1.
GTV Demonstrators outside (2 shots)
0.10

2.
LV Leaders speaking
0.14

3.
CU Indonesian soldier looks on
0.18

4.
SV PAN & SCU Demonstrators (3 shots)
0.34

5.
SUC Soldier taking notes
0.37

6.
GTV Demonstrators with banners (2 shots)
0.43

7.
SCU Girls watch
0.46

8.
SCU Two demonstrators holding doves
0.50

9.
SV Indonesian delegation arrives with soldiers
0.53

10.
SV & TV PAN Demonstrators (2 shots)
1.02



Initials BB/1830 RS/JB/BB/1812



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: More than 600 demonstrators went to the headquarters of the International Commission for Control and Supervision (ICCS) in Saigon on Friday (April 13) to ask the four-nation body to send observers to a besieged Ranger base at Tong Le Chan, 50 miles (80 kilometres) north of Saigon. Four hundred South Vietnamese Rangers, mostly Montagnards, are surrounded by a regiment of North Vietnamese soldiers.

Among the demonstrators were many relatives of soldiers who have been killed at the base, and relatives of those who are still holding out there. A petition was handed to the Indonesian chairman of the I.C.C.S., calling for the organisation to take action. Doves and flowers were also presented. The flowers were a tribute to the I.C.C.S. members killed when a helicopter was shot down recently over Communist-held territory.

Commission members told journalists later they were powerless to do anything until the two sides stopped shooting. But, at the moment, both sides were blaming each other for the continued fighting.

Tong Le Chan is being supplied by airdrop. Many of the drops have been inaccurate because supply 'planes have had to fly too high in order to stay out of range of Communist gunfire.

SYNOPSIS: Six hundred demonstrators went to the International Commission for Control and Supervision in Saigon on Friday -- to ask for help for a besieged Ranger base.

A regiment of North Vietnamese troops is surrounding four hundred South Vietnamese Rangers at the base at Tong Le Chan.

Among the demonstrators were many widows of Rangers killed in the early days of the siege. There were also relatives of those still holding out at the base. They brought a petition, asking the four-nation body to take action and to send observers.

Supplies reach Tong Le Chan only by airdrop. However, drops have been inaccurate, as aircraft have been flying two miles high to avoid anti-aircraft fire.

Demonstrators presented doves and flowers to Indonesian members of the commission. The doves symbolised peace.

The flowers were a tribute to the Commission members who were killed when a helicopter was shot down recently over Communist-held territory.